The Ohio State men’s ice hockey team takes on Notre Dame on Friday and Saturday in South Bend, Indiana. Credit: Zachary Rilley | Photo Editor
After a brief two-game home stint, the No. 7 Ohio State men’s hockey team travels to South Bend, Indiana, to play against Notre Dame at Compton Family Ice Arena this weekend.
The Buckeyes (17-10-1, 10-8-0 Big Ten) are coming off their third-straight series split against No. 8 Penn State Feb.3-4. Notre Dame (13-14-3, 8-10-2 Big Ten) was smothered on offense in a sweep by No. 15 Michigan State, only managing two goals in the series.
Ohio State sits in the middle of a tightly packed Big Ten at fourth place and eighth in PairWise rankings. The Buckeyes are tasked with finishing strong amid a backloaded slate of road games.
“One game at a time,” head coach Steve Rohlik said. “If we can practice the way we need to during the week, it’s going to give us our best chance.”
The Buckeyes last met the Fighting Irish, led by head coach Jeff Jackson, Nov. 18-19, 2022, in a series in Columbus. Ohio State took the former 5-2 but dropped the latter 1-0.
The Fighting Irish’s offensive struggles are not exclusive to their series against the Spartans, ranking last in the Big Ten in goals scored per game at 2.37 and next to last at sixth in points and assists per contest.
Leading Notre Dame with 20 points apiece are forwards graduate Chayse Primeau and junior Ryder Rolston. Following shortly behind is senior forward Trevor Janicke with 18 points, including eight goals, tied with Primeau for the team lead.
The Fighting Irish are one of only two Big Ten teams not to have a double-digit goal scorer this season.
Notre Dame struggles to attack the net on offense, ranking last in the conference in shot attempts and percentage, adverse to Ohio State, which ranks second and third, respectively.
The special teams unit for Notre Dame has issues as well, ranking at the bottom of the conference in penalty killing percentage at .752 and next at last at power-play percentage at .186.
Ohio State remains at the top of the conference in killing opposing power plays at an 89.1 percent rate while converting 21.6 percent of its own opportunities, good for third.
The Fighting Irish fare better defensively, tied for third in the conference in goals allowed per game at 2.73 and leading the Big Ten in blocked shots per contest at 14.23.
Notre Dame’s goalies, led by senior Ryan Bischel, pace the conference in total saves per game at 31.47 and a 92 percent saves rate. Bischel recorded the most saves in a game by a Big Ten goalie this season, 52 in a Jan. 20 contest against Penn State.
“We’ve got to get volume to him, and we’ve got to get traffic to him,” Rohlik said. “He’s very good. Their team’s very good. They’re well coached, and they got a Hall of Fame coach and coaching staff there, so you know, we’ve got to be at our best.”
Freshman forward Stephen Halliday was selected Big Ten Third Star of the Week Tuesday for the Buckeyes after a five-assist weekend against the Nittany Lions to add to his team-leading point total at 30.
Areshman forward Davis Burnside scored a goal in each contest against Penn State to make him the team leader in goals. Burnside said he and Halliday haven’t been surprised with their production and want to help the team in any capacity.
“Obviously, you have expectations of coming in and wanting to do as good as you can,” Burnside said.” You don’t really know where you’re going to be put up in the lineup as a freshman. So we’re just taking most of our opportunity here.”
Friday’s puck drop is scheduled for 7:30 p.m., while Saturday is a 6 p.m. start. Peacock will stream both games.
